At its Wednesday Honeycomb event, Google unveiled the Android Market Web Store, a Web-based version of the Android app store.

Google also announced in-app purchasing for Android apps, and new currency options for developers.

"The Android Market Web Store is basically the new way that users can get apps on their devices," said Chris Yerga, Android engineering director for cloud services at Google.

Until today, users could only access Android Market apps via the app store client on their phone. Now, users can go to market.android.com and peruse all the available apps. It is live now.

The Android Web Store includes a carousel with promotional banners for apps, as well as familiar categories like features, top paid, and top free, Yerga said. To purchase, click the buy option and a pop-up window will appear, asking you which device on which you want to install the app. Select payment option and the Web Store will send the app directly to your mobile device.

Yerga also announced buyer currency support, which will allow developers to specifically choose a price in different currencies. It will roll out slowly; it is available today for an initial set of U.S. currencies. In the coming months, Google will add new currencies and new seller support.

Some app developers were on hand including Disney, which said it will release Android versions of Radio Disney, Jelly Car, and Tap Tap Revenge. Radio Disney is coming in the next few weeks, with the other two apps appearing in the spring.

CNN executives also unveiled a CNN app specifically built for Android Honeycomb. That includes an option to submit iReports from average viewers directly from the app. It will be available for free on the Motorola Xoom in the near future and other Android tablets as they are released, CNN said.

The first part of Google's Wednesday event was dedicated to a demo of Honeycomb (see slideshow above), its next-generation Android platform. Google showed it off at CES this year, and Hugo Barra, director of products for mobile at Google, took the stage again today for another look.

Google has revamped how users navigate on Android, with a new button dedicated solely to multi-tasking. There is a notification and systems status area on the bottom right, but the rest of the screen is dedicated entirely to apps, he said. The home screen is not just a
"warehouse of apps; it's an app development platform in itself," he said. Widgets can be stacked for easy scrolling through things like baseball stats or YouTube videos.

"What really matters is, despite the clever computer science we have to enable the smooth experience, it's just about quick and easy access to important information," Barra said.

Barra showed off Honeycomb's IM options, video chat functionality, and notifications, which he said were designed to be "completely non-intrusive."

Barra also said Google has "spent a significant amount of effort to make sure existing Android apps run really well on tablets." He pulled up Fruit Ninja on a Honeycomb tablet, a game he said was built before Honeycomb even existed. "It works amazingly well," Barra said.

To enable developers to build apps for phones and tablets, Google has added something called "application fragment." Barra opened Gmail to demonstrate with a left folder view and inbox on the right. The left-most pane slid out to reveal another pane. These panes are "application fragments," and can be used to encapsulate specific functionality between the phone and tablet version of the app, Barra said.

Honeycomb also includes a dragging manager that lets users drag messages into specific folders. He promised a "lot more" where that's concerned.

Barra also talked up performance. "All the 2D drawing developers have been doing with the existing framework can now be hardware accelerated, and developers can do that by adding one line of code," he said. Google "also added a new animation framework to Honeycomb to enable transitions and overall polish." He pointed to Renderscript, a new 3D graphics engine first unveiled last month that allows for rich 3D scenes.

He also showed off the camera, with front- and rear-facing camera options, as well as the option to shoot video and upload directly to YouTube.

Editor's Note: This story was updated at 2:15pm Eastern with more details about the demo.

About the Author

Before joining PCMag.com, Chloe covered financial IT for Incisive Media in NYC and technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's deg... See Full Bio

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